Kirsten Dunst says she was asked ‘inappropriate’ question by male director

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Kirsten Dunst, a popular Hollywood actress, recently shared her experience of being asked an inappropriate question by a male director during an audition.

Dunst pondered over the event that happened when she was 16 while giving a fresh interview. She clarified that it happened while she was auditioning for a highly coveted role.

"I was alone in the office of a male director who was considering me for a role in his movie. Without warning, he posed an inappropriate question," the actress recounted to The Telegraph.

Dunst, who stars in the recent suspense film "Civil War," decided not to provide further details or mention the name of the filmmaker.

Honestly, I'm not even certain if he's still employed. It's not a topic I want to dwell on. However, I will state that his words were not related to acting. His comments were not simply mildly inappropriate. They were completely inappropriate. I recall sitting there, sensing that something was amiss, but unsure of how to handle it.

Dunst gives her mother the credit for safeguarding her from the harmful aspects of the entertainment industry.

I managed to steer clear of the unscrupulous aspect of the industry solely due to my mother's constant presence wherever I went.

Following the tryout, Dunst remembered informing her mother about the situation, and her mother withdrew her right away.

Actress Kirsten Dunst features in the movie "Civil War."

It all came to a close. She took me out of the running and informed them that I won't be part of the movie.

Dunst's professional journey kicked off at the young age of three. She landed her first significant acting role in Woody Allen's short film Oedipus Wrecks, which was included in the anthology movie New York Stories. Dunst earned fame in 1994, for her performance as child vampire Claudia, alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, in the Anne Rice-based movie Interview with the Vampire. Following that, she took up iconic roles in movies such as Little Women, Jumanji, and Bring It On. She reached the status of a leading actress by playing Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man trilogy opposite Tobey Maguire.

At the moment, she is advertising the upcoming movie "Civil War" by A24. She plays the role of a photojournalist who is embedded in the military and is documenting the ruins of America after some sort of apocalyptic event.

Dunst discusses the alteration in discussions regarding the disparity between male and female performers in the movie sector throughout her profession. She remarks that this was previously a subject that nobody deemed necessary to scrutinize.

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According to her, she received lower pay than her male colleagues despite having acted in movies that attained better box-office results.

When I was chosen to be a part of Spider-Man, I had recently achieved great success in Bring it On. This meant that I had valuable skills and qualities to offer to the project. However, at the time, I didn't realize this, nor did I have any idea that I was being paid significantly less than Tobey Maguire. This didn't bother me or affect my performance on set, as it wasn't even something that crossed my mind or was brought up for discussion.

During a past conversation with The Independent, Dunst reflected on the difference in earnings between herself and Maguire.

She expressed that there was a huge difference in how much she got paid compared to Spider-Man.

In Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" movie, the lead actress is Kirsten Dunst.

Dunst also mentions that the unequal payment is not the solitary problem concerning gender discrimination in the entertainment field.

During an interview with the BBC, she mentioned the biographical film about Marie Antoinette directed by Sofia Coppola in 2006. This movie was widely criticized by professional critics upon its release, but has since gathered a devoted fanbase. Dunst states that the viewers who appreciated the film were in her age group, and not necessarily film critics who were typically older men. Therefore, in her opinion, the people who praised Marie Antoinette's cinematic portrayal have matured and can revisit the film saying, "We loved this movie", while they weren't the ones responsible for writing critical reviews.

Our generation has been brought up in a society where everything is referred to using masculine pronouns: man-kind, man-made, man this, man that. This is how we were raised.

During a previous conversation with Variety, she discussed how she used to stay quiet about issues that bothered her.

During filming for Spider-Man, the crew would occasionally refer to me as "girly-girl" over the walkie-talkie as a joke. Although it bothered me, I didn't speak up to object. I wished they wouldn't address me that way.

Dunst mentioned that people would remain silent on film sets back then, particularly before the #MeToo movement.

"You have only just acquired/taken possession of it."